Rotary ready to make history again

This will take place in the Deniliquin Waring Gardens after the official Australia Day ceremony in the Deniliquin Town Hall.

In anticipation of the day, the Deniliquin & District Historical Society found and shared a photo from the day the last time capsule was unearthed - on Australia Day 25 years ago.

That time capsule had been buried in 1972.

It inspired us to go back to our own archives to see how the Pastoral Times reported on the milestone at the time.

On the front page of the Friday, January 28 edition, we reported that 1000 people had turned out despite rain to witness the historic unearthing.

It coincided with the Australia Day awards ceremony, during which Kevan Brown was named Deniliquin’s Citizen of the Year and Niccola Strickland was Junior Citizen.

Given the honour of lifting the enormous time capsule was local earthmover Rod Druitt, who also helped bury it 28 years earlier.

The following is one of the post-unearthing articles which appeared in the PT in 2000.

Capsule contents reveal how the world has changed

Hundreds of time capsule articles were claimed at the Multi Arts Centre in Cressy St on Saturday, in addition to those collected when the time capsule was opened on Australia Day.

Rotarian John Tainsh said the response from the public had been excellent.

Mr Tainsh said Rotary would meet next week to mail as many of the packages to their rightful owners as possible.

He said many people would be able to claim their goods when their schools open their packages.

“Many people contributed to packages which were placed in one envelope by schools. Hopefully people will receive these soon,” he said.

Mr Tainsh said people should start thinking about what they would like to put in the time capsule being buried in July.

Local identity Pat Druitt was one of the many hundreds to make a contribution to the 1972 time capsule.

“There have been a lot of emotions associated with opening the capsule,” Mrs Druitt said.

“There are people who have received a letter from, or photograph of, someone who has died.

“We had some personal things in our letter.

“I was pleasantly surprised with what I found.

“I also wrote about the things that were of concern at the time.”

In her summary of life in 1972, Mrs Druitt wrote that the Australian political scene was uncertain.

“Mr McMahon is Prime Minister, and he is not very popular. There is talk Labor may get in at the election in November 1972,” it read.

“Mr AJ Grasby is the Member for Riverina - he is very dynamic and seems popular.

“On the world scene, President Nixon of America has recently been to China, and they have had talks for the first time in 20 years.

“The Vietnam War is over and Australia is not sending any more troops over there.

“The Irish question is causing concern and the British Government is now going to govern Northern Ireland by direct rule.”

Other interesting references in the letter refer to fashion in 1972.

“Skirt lengths are now above the knee. Hotpants are all the rage and shoes are heavy with platform soles,” she wrote.

“Hair styles are either long or short. The young seem to favour shoulder length hair.”

The letter said men were wearing coloured shirts of blue, orange and green and “gaily patterned” ties, “above four inches wide”.

“The men have long hair to their shoulders, but the majority wear sideboards and hair just above the collar,” she wrote.

Mrs Druitt also wrote about her son Stephen, who was a technician on the popular television program ‘Bellbird’ at the time.

She wrote there was even talk of colour television being available within the next few years.

• Envelopes for the 2025-2050 Rotary time capsule can be purchased from the Deniliquin Pastoral Times office, Peppin Heritage Centre, 1521/2QN Edge FM and from Rotarians in the Lions Kiosk in the Deniliquin CBD at various dates up until June 2025.